Screens Are the New Teachers

Remote learning has been a new experience for us all. Not only have we never done something like this before, but we have never had a school year where we were only at home. This has been a challenge for some but a whole new level of success for others. Today I am here to make you aware of the different pros and cons of this remote learning. Keep reading to find out whether this has helped or harmed students and why.

Pros~ For starters we are at home…like who could ask for better? Instead of having to get up at 5 a.m. to get all ready and catch the bus, we can wake up almost two hours later, and our walk to school is just down the stairs. Those two extra hours give us more time to sleep and get the eight hours of sleep we need each night. It also allows us to have more time at night for family, friends, and homework. We are able to stress less when we are given extra time to relax. We are also getting prepared for college because many classes are online and this will give us a little taste of that. Secondly, we are able to focus better without the social anxieties school can bring along with the fact that your friends can’t distract you when you are within the comfort of your own home. Finally, it is keeping kids safer from the danger of driving to school and taking the bus because teen driving is a very unsafe situation. Teens are also being more closely monitored by parents, so they are less likely to get in trouble as long as an adult is present within the home.

Cons~ To begin, many students have difficulty pushing themselves, and maintaining focus being at home when distractions come into play such as other family members, the phones allowed to be out, and video games. Many students turn their cameras off and just relax throughout the day, which is not the correct thing to do. The students that are not doing as well during a time like this are the ones who cannot self discipline and manage time well. Another problem is that cheating has gone up tremendously. The amount of students that are using resources at home and the cameras range of view to their advantage is striking. This is making it where students are not truly learning, and teachers are not getting an accurate understanding of what the students are taking in. Finally, many teachers have taken advantage of this online learning and they keep students on the call for attendance purposes only and send them off to learn on their own which is not the right thing to do. All of these problems combined will hurt how students perform on the ACT and SAT because all of these classes that they just breeze through because they are not retaining any of the information. This will cause major problems when it comes time for college.

Overall, in my personal opinion, this experience is different for everyone and based upon the person themselves; it determines whether or not they will be successful during a time like this. Hopefully we will see an end to this in the near future, but in the meantime,we need to make the most of this and become more familiar with our screens.